The invention relates to shock absorbers, and more particularly to shock absorbers for safety belts and improvements therein.
Whenever a workman is positioned on a scaffold, catwalk or other high place where a fall could result in a serious injury, the workman will wear a harness such as a safety belt. The safety belt is attached to a short rope, a lanyard, which in turn, is connected to an anchoring or the like provided on the structure where the workman is located. To complete this safety belt assembly, a shock absorbing device is interconnected with the lanyard in such a manner as to prevent the lanyard from suddenly checking the fall of the workman. The shock absorber is an essential part of the safety belt assembly for when a lanyard suddenly checks the fall of a workman, the shock force against his body is severe and can be the cause of serious internal injury.
The maximum force about a man's waist, as when a safety belt is checking a fall, should be much less than 1000 pounds, and preferably not more than 600 pounds. However, to suddenly check the fall of a man by a conventional lanyard directly attached to a safety belt, the shock force which will occur may exceed 3000 pounds. If the lanyard is made of an elastic material such as a light weight nylon line, the shock force may be reduced, but the necessarily small diameter of the line and the resulting bounce are both undesirable. The shock absorber, whether in tandem with the lanyard or whether shunting a slack portion of the lanyard, should function whenever a pull upon it exceeds a selected value such as 600 pounds. It should extend itself or stretch, and continue to stretch until the fall is completely checked.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel safety line shock absorber having an improved structure over those shock absorbers presently available in the market place.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel safety line shock absorber that is economical to manufacture and market.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel safety line shock absorber that utilizes a bungy cord and a nylon strap that work in tandem to gradually bring a person falling to a stop.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel safety line shock absorber having structure that will clearly indicate if it has been previously been used so that it may be discarded and not put into service.